Business owners rush to save items from flood water in Oneida

ONEIDA >> As residents and pets were being evacuated from a large portion of downtown Oneida on Friday, business owners are also scrambled to save equipment and goods from water damage.

Friday afternoon, as waters from Oneida Creek continued to rise, antique vendors at Oneida Commons on Lenox Avenue were working quickly to remove items. Around 3 p.m. the water levels were about a foot away from the rear wall of the building.

Down the road near the intersection of Lenox Avenue and Stoddard Street, the Oneida Service Center was the site of water about five feet deep.

Owner Chad Ward said that after the heavy rain downpour Thursday night in the area, he was not surprised to see flash flood warnings and alerts early Friday morning when he woke up.

Advertisement

"I didn't really think much of it at the time," he said.

By 6:30 a.m. Ward was busy working on a vehicle at his automotive repair shop, when water started rising at the creek which is a few blocks away from his shop.

By 8 a.m., water had already entered his garage as he rushed to remove as many tools and equipment as possible.

He left when water was waist high. Ward is 6 feet tall.

Ward said that there were vehicles on lifts at his business, and so he raised the lifts as high as they would go.

In that position, the bottom of the vehicle tires would be about six feet off the ground, he said.

He hoped that was enough to save the vehicles from damage.

Ward, who lives in Oneida, said he remembers a flood in the mid-1990s that left two feet of water in his driveway.

"But that was nothing like this," he said while looking down the street at his business.